After the Fact post 2

I typed this 3 weeks before I was to leave London:

"Monday, July 26th 2:19 pm

Tea: nonexistant. Drinking coke today. Sorry to let down the stereotype.

Mood: Philisophic

The London adventure is starting to wind down now, and I'm realizing that I didn't write anywhere as much as I had intended to. In all actuality, I simply didnt have the time. Well, maybe I did, but that was time I needed to spend doing nothing, seeing as how everything else was so busy.

At this point, I've seen a fair amount of the city. I've lost 3 railcards, seen one show, celebrated one birthday, attended one gallery opening, made many friends, seen one terrible movie, worked in two galleries, sold one painting, written 9 papers, read 3 books, lost one credit card, and spent more money than I want to talk about. Life seems to have sped up and slowed down all at once. Part of me longs to stay in this outstanding, bewitching city, while the other aches for home like I've never felt before. In two weeks, my family will be here, and I get to act as tour guide around the city, which I find strangely exciting.

I've been to plenty of places in the city, but I've become a big fan of some of the places out of the city that I've seen. Greenwich was outstanding, and the views of the city were breathtaking. Hampton court was even better. Maybe it's because I'm an artist or a writer, or maybe just a geek, but walking down the echoing stone halls gave me chills. Or maybe it was because I promptly got rained on and was freezing, but the history of everything was amazing. Though I'm hesitant to use the term because of its cliche undertones, I was positively spellbound as I wandered around the castle. Everything ached with memories of previous times, and I actively tried to picture people wandering the cobbled pathways in court dress. Up until I saw them, that is. I had a gentleman in full court dress stop, take my hand and bow, calling me, "Your royal madam". I must have looked incredibly confused, because he followed up with, "You're wearing purple, miss. The color of royalty." That made me smile. I could get used to this. Moments later, a much heralded Henry VIII and Katherine Parr walked through the chamber. As he passed me, he stopped and proclaimed, "We've just been married. You may congratulate us." Besides the obvious entertainment, the place is constantly reminicent of period movies and Shakespeare, and I found myself trailing my hands across the walls while I walked. Is it possible to soak up history? I'm such a nerd.

London itself is fascinating. There are so many areas saturated in history and yet its hard to imagine a grungy medieval city when surronded by towering structures of concrete and glass, but small aspects of the city give tip offs to the way things used to be. Tiny alleyways of shadow and cobbled streets, teired shop fronts overlooking walkways of stained stone, old architecture peeking out from years and years of grime and the elements, all wedged between Starbucks and Sainsbury's. Some areas of London seem to be begrudgingly plodding its way into the twenty first century, whereas other areas are exceedingly modern, mixing new and old architecture and mentality to create a singular, original identity that is uniquely London.

Look at me, waxing philisophic again. Feh. I'm sensing that all of my flatmates are starting to tire of living in the same house. We've each had our own little mini freak outs over a wide range of things, but we've managed to go the 2 months so far without killing each other, which I find pretty damn impressive. I feel like I've gained some pretty impressive contacts through work, as well as some lasting friends through my intern mates. The girls I work with are caring and kind, and I wish only the best things in the world for them. Helen aches for the big time as much as she aches for Prince Harry. Shes brash and loud and exactly the type of person I love to hang around with. She reminds me of my sister in a wonderful way. Sixtin is in London from France learning english. Shes an incredibly sweet person brimming with beautiful, bright dreams that I sincerely hope she acheives. Valentina works incredibly hard, and is always there to help anyone in need. She is quick to smile, and oozes fashion sense on everyone around her. And finally Jimena. Jimena is meant for great things. She is outstanding at planning, and PR, and she is incredibly caring and protective of all of her friends. I've become the closest with her, mostly due to my helping her to not freak out at the opening. I feel like sometimes she puts a bit too much on her plate, but shes lucky to have friends around who are happy to help her cope. Wonderfully, she will be moving to New York city in a few months, so I will have oppurtunities to go and visit her after I leave London. Mostly, our group has been spending the past two weeks on our computers, complaining about internet speed and the state of facebook, but we have done quite a bit of work in promoting the gallery and selling artwork, so it isn't all fun and games.

All in all, I'm just attempting to survive the rest of my time here with my sanity intact. Hopefully I'll have another blog for you all soon. I'll continue to post pictures in the meantime, and I would of course appreciate any comments that you leave.

Have a wonderful week, folks. I'll talk to you again, soon.

<3>

"

After the Fact post

So there are several postings that were up on my personal website that I figure I'll post here. These are personal blogs, and have nothing to do with class. You'll notice, however, a few repeats with paragraphs and such. Keep it under your hat, will ya? ;)

I wrote this post the week after I had arrived.

"So, I'm here.

!!

Ok, so there was a bit of drama in the getting here, but all is well now. I got sick LITERALLY the day after I arrived and completely lost my voice, so I was completely voiceless on the three days of my internship, which sucked. I'm still not 100%, but I'm at about 98.

London. Is. Outstanding.

So much character! From the brightly colored wood facades to the crudely cobbled streets, this place is bursting at the seams with history, pride, and personality. Tiny, shadowed alleyways between buildings, grape vines growing down the sides of buildings, quiet little cafes wafting the smell of fresh scones and cappucino into the street... I've become completely enchanted with the place, as expected. Theres just so much life everywhere. Theres something for everyone on the quirky little street corners. And its so big, which for some reason I wasnt expecting. There is art everywhere, in any form imaginable. Gothic architecture arcing into the skies and carefully planned out gardens mingle in the same spot.

I'm waxing philisophical, sorry. But I didn't expect the city itself to have such an identity.

On other matters, my birthday is next week, and I have no idea what I'm doing. I miss my family and friends desperately.

I seem to be getting along with the other interns that I'm currently living with, although I don't know if I really fit in. They're a really neat group of people, and I'm glad that I ended up with them, but I'm not sure what they think of me. I may be being something of a stick in the mud- between being sick and not having much money, I haven't really gone out with the group a great deal. I guess I'm a little insecure, as I usually am around new people. It's worse than usual since Im so far from home, and I'm finding myself craving alone time. Still, everything is fine, I'm still having a ball.

My internship is a lot of fun, I'm getting the oppurtunity to work in a very posh area, and the gallery contains a lot of very interesting artwork. Im actually arranging an art opening at the gallery! I get to pick the artwork that gets hung and who is invited, and I'm in charge of making sure that the place is prepared and presentable for an opening, which, trust me- has been quite an undertaking already. My boss is an absolute ball though, and I enjoy the work. I'm also putting together the website for the place as well, so its proving to be a lot of fulfilling work.

I've taken a lot of pictures, so as soon as I relocate my camera card, I'll be posting some.

Don't forget to comment! I'd love to answer any questions or hear from you!

Love you all, and I'll post more soon!

<3>

I have at least two more blogs to post, as well as an after-the-fact reflection of my trip. I'll get them to you soon!

Blog entry 4

Where my previous blog was ACTION PACKED, this one will probably be quite boring in comparison.

I'm still working on getting the webpage together for the gallery, but its coming along quite slowly. Its proving quite difficult to get in contact with some of the artists that are to be featured on the website, so getting their information to place along with their work has been a long, annoying process. Now that the gallery opening has passed, there hasn't really been a lot to do around the gallery, so my days have gotten steadily slower. I did, however, sell a painting, which is insanely awesome. Also, the lack of things to do has led to bonding oppurtunities with the girls I work with. We're quite a multicultural group- Sixtin is from France, Helen is from London, Jimena is from Mexico, and of course I'm from the US. We all get along remarkably well, and I like to think that I have made lasting friends with them. We've swapped stories, anecdotes, and jokes, and I've grown to like them all very much. Sixtin is in London learning english, and we try to help her as best as we can. She is an incredibly sweet person, with many crazy dreams that I hope she'll be able to acheive. Helen was born and raised in London, and aches to hit the big time and get out of the city. She also aches for Prince Harry, which I can definitely understand :) She's brash and loud, and exactly my kind of a person. She's funny and knows all the good places for food, drinks, and shows. Jimena is meant for great things. She is outstanding at planning, and PR, and she is incredibly caring and protective of all of her friends. I've become the closest with her, mostly due to my helping her to not freak out at the opening. I feel like sometimes she puts a bit too much on her plate, but shes lucky to have friends around who are happy to help her cope. Wonderfully, she will be moving to New York city in a few months, so I will have oppurtunities to go and visit her after I leave London. Mostly, our group has been spending the past two weeks on our computers, complaining about internet speed and the state of facebook, but we have done quite a bit of work in promoting the gallery and selling artwork, so it isn't all fun and games.

This weekend, I went to Hampton court for a class assignment. Maybe it's because I'm an artist or a writer, or maybe just a geek, but walking down the echoing stone halls gave me chills. Or maybe it was because I promptly got rained on and was freezing, but the history of everything was amazing. Though I'm hesitant to use the term because of its cliche undertones, I was positively spellbound as I wandered around the castle. Everything ached with memories of previous times, and I actively tried to picture people wandering the cobbled pathways in court dress. Up until I saw them, that is. I had a gentleman in full court dress stop, take my hand and bow, calling me, "Your royal madam". I must have looked incredibly confused, because he followed up with, "You're wearing purple, miss. The color of royalty." That made me smile. I could get used to this.

Moments later, a much heralded Henry VIII and Katherine Parr walked through the chamber. As he passed me, he stopped and proclaimed, "We've just been married. You may congratulate us."

Besides the obvious entertainment, the place is constantly reminicent of period movies and Shakespeare, and I found myself trailing my hands across the walls while I walked. Is it possible to soak up history? I'm such a nerd.

Sunday night, I went and saw Penn and Teller perform at the Apollo Hammersmith. I saw them once previously in Las Vegas, and I've been watching them on TV for years before that. There were, unsurprisingly, absolutely outstanding. The theatre was absolutely boiling hot, but they preformed effortlessly. I am hoping to see atleast one more show while I'm here (hopefully two) but it has come to light that we only have about two more weeks left on our English adventure. I am at once excited and saddened by this. I have fallen in love with London completely, but I am a self professed home-body, and I desperately miss my friends and family. Not to mention many of my possesions. Mostly my bed. And my Xbox.

I'm ready to be home, but I know I will miss this city immensely once I've left it. Happily, London towne will remain where it is, waiting patiently for me to visit once more.

Entry 2

The past few weeks have been incredibly busy. At work, I've been preparing for the gallery that took place on July 1st, and another art show that will be in late July. I'm thoroughly enjoying class. I love our professors lectures. He manages to exhibit the material in an interesting and entertaining way, and Im finding myself learning a lot. I've made some very good friends at work, ones I hope to have for a long time. I'm loving the city in general. The people, the sights, the shopping. I've met so many amazing people already, and I feel like I have so much to do in the small rest of the time I'll be here. I would love to live in London- the big city mentality is right in line with mine, and yet the people are so much nicer than typical big city people. London itself is fascinating. There are so many areas saturated in history and yet its hard to imagine a grungy medieval city when surronded by towering structures of concrete and glass, but small aspects of the city give tip offs to the way things used to be. Tiny alleyways of shadow and cobbled streets, teired shop fronts overlooking walkways of stained stone, old architecture peeking out from years and years of grime and the elements, all wedged between Starbucks and Sainsbury's. Some areas of London seem to be begrudgingly plodding its way into the twenty first century, whereas other areas are exceedingly modern, mixing new and old architecture and mentality to create a singular, original identity that is uniquely London

Over the weekend, I went to the Victoria and Albert museum and my favorite area is the plaster cast room. Walking in to the gallery to all the gigantic peices absolutely took my breath away. I was incredibly delighted, as an artist, to be able to see the casts of Michealangelo's sculptures- especially "the dying slave". The area was a treasure trove, and practically a timeline of evolving art over the years. Absolutely amazing.

My birthday was Wednesday the 30th. I'm not a huge birthday person, but apparently my flatmates are. They were incredibly nice, and we went out to have dinner at a resturant called "Strada" on the Thames with a wonderful view of the Tower Bridge. Dinner was amazing, and when we got back to the flat they surprised me with a cake. I completely didn't expect it, and it was incredibly sweet of them. On the other hand, my birthday was really tough- I miss my family terribly all the time, but not as bad as I did that day. I recieved several phone calls from family, singing me happy birthday, and good wishes, and it ended up being incredibly hard without them around. Besides that, my day was marvelous.

The gallery opening on Thursday was incredibly hectic, but a lot of fun. The preperation the day of was extensive, and made even worse by my boss' default state of disorganization. Prior to the party, I was doing a lot of last minute running around. I had plenty of little tasks to attend to, and pulled it to the wire to get everything done. While looking great in my new dress and shoes, I met lots of people in the art and business world. I made a lot of new friends, and made future plans with several people, including an amazing woman who works at Sotheby's and could perhaps get me a job at the location in New York City. Besides the business aspect, the party itself was very glamourous and glitzy, with bubbly flowing, photographers, and amazing looking people. We sold a lot of art and managed to rope in some great publicity in the process.

On the fourth of July, I went to an expatriate bbq in Notting Hill. Truly, there was only about 6 Americans in attendance, but we all had a ball. There were burgers and hot dogs about, cherry pie, and American flag cupcakes, Of course, the beer and wine was flowing generously, as well as mint juleps, strangely. I made friends with most of the group there whose nationalities ranged from English and Irish, to Swedish, Australian, and German. Everyone got along famously and soaked in the atmosphere, and I had a few conversations about different mentalities towards Americans from different people. I keep discovering that Americans, while in America, have a vision that the world hates them, and carry that with them when they travel. Everyone I have met since the beginning of my stay here has been very kind and has not said anything about Americans in a poor light. I think for the rest of my stay here, I'll just continue to promote international friendship. Its the least I can do!

Week One

Week one

When I arrived at my internship, I immediately got along with my boss. He's a very laid back guy, with a good sense of humor and a great passion for art. He works very hard for both of his galleries and inspires a strong motivation and comraderie with his employees and artists. Excitedly, he put me in charge of preparing the gallery in Wimbledon for an art opening. It is turning out to be a lot of work (with an extensive to do list) but I have control of many of the particulars, so in a sense, the project is kind of my baby. Also, since the gallery doesn't have a website, and I am a web designer, I've volunteered to help create the website for the gallery.

I'm currently working hard to prepare the Wimbledon gallery. I've cleaned extensively- I swept and mopped, wiped down all the surfaces, patched holes in the walls, and hung paintings. I've organized the desks and artwork, and I'm preparing to repaint the walls and floor. I'm also bubblewrapping extra paintings on Monday, and I will be working on the website for the gallery on Tuesday. The gallery is a very interesting and unique space, overflowing with artwork of all forms. I've already spent a good amount of time going through the paintings and sculptures, examining them and deciding what goes on display.

Outside of work, I've visited the British Museum three times this week. I've fallen completely in love with it and the London lifestyle. I love the big city mentality, the weather, the people, the pubs. I've spent several afternoons wandering various areas, trying to get my bearings and mentally mark places to revisit. I've spent a bit of time in Westminster and Kensington, and I've walked down by the Thames. I already get along well with my roomates and I'm looking forward to what's more to come!

Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives-

I will be working at GG Gallery in Notting Hill, London. I'm an art student, so working in a setting surrounded by art and those who love and sell it will help me see art in a different light. One day, I hope to be selling my artwork, therefore it is my hope that working in the gallery will give me the knowledge and experience to do so. I'm very interested in viewing art as a business. Up until now, I've kept my art simply to myself, but I think it would be interesting to take it a step higher and get an understanding of the economy of the business. I want to identify how views on art as a business differ in the UK and Europe from views in the US. I want to develop my skills as an artist to create profitable products. I want to develop an understanding of living and working in the art world and industry.

I intend to achieve these learning goals through observing and working with my supervisors, working closely with clientèle, and spending time with my fellow internship-mates. I plan on keeping a regular journal and a sketch journal, and I have already created a website to post my experiences. I hope that what I learn will be applicable in my artwork and that I will be able to share the knowledge to classmates in my field.

On a more personal note, I want to develop a better sense of independence. I've never been away from my family more than two weeks in my entire life, and have always lived with my parents. I feel that my internship will be an excellent opportunity for me to stretch my wings, if you will, in a controlled setting.

Meeting a good-looking British guy would be nice too. ;)